Let's start all over again...

It's the first Monday of daylight savings time and I figured why not re-start this blog thing again? I didn't realize that my account was still active, but good for me. It's been two years since my last post and I'll try to keep this blog updated at least once or twice a week (or more if something "meaningful" happens during the week).

So let's recap what has transpired so far - and no, I won't go back two years - let's just say the past week. My college soccer coach and teacher past away last week after a long battle with cancer. Senor Carlos Lopez, or Don Carlos was a very well-loved and distinguished faculty member at Menlo College. I will be taking the day off on Thursday to attend the funeral and perhaps catch up with my college teammates and friends. He will be missed and may his soul rest in peace.

Later on the week, I received another email on the death of a high school classmate. Boy, the hits just keep on coming. I told my wife that you know your getting up there in age (although to me it's just a number) when your fellow classmates start passing away. Matt - may you rest in peace!

Sheeesh... okay, let's lighten this up a bit. This is a blog about my photography anyway, right? I've got two photoshoots lined up for March. I was contacted by Tia, a professional model from Dayton, OH who will be in the area on the third week of March. We exchanged a few emails and have agreed on a photoshoot date of March 22nd. I am looking forward to collaborating with Tia and see what magic we both could create... stay tuned!

Then another email popped up from a model on another site that I belong to - One Model Place - requesting to see my port and/or website. I quickly responded to her request and sent her links to my website and pbase.com gallery. She liked what she saw and asked me if I would consider working with her on a TFP or TFCD basis... why not?

I offered to meet up with Khrystyna at the Starbuck's on Piedmont in Oakland. I wanted to know what she was hoping to achieve on this photoshoot. I have my ideas, but I wanted to be sure that she was comfortable with the concept. Before I even opened the door to the coffe shop, I already spotted Khrystyna seated on a table off to the right of the store. I had the advantage as I have seen her profile on OMP - so I went ahead and introduced myself and offered to buy her a coffee drink, "vanilla latte" for the lady.

Khrystyna Ushuku is originally from Magadan, Russia - Siberia to be specific. She recently moved to the bay area from Hawaii. She wants to get her feet wet with this modeling bit, although she's done a few gigs whilst in Hawaii. I showed her some more pics from my port and to my delight she approved. We started to talk about what we both would want to accomplish on this shoot, and I suggested to her that she needed some headshots. Agreed. Then our imagination wandered off the studio to various locations - high fashion/glam on an urban setting, warehouse, rooftop...etc. I had to get us back on track with the upcoming shoot, reminding her that she needed some more pics on her port to showcase her versatile looks.

I'm really looking forward to these two shoots. I get a chance to experiment with lighting and try to create some beautiful portraits with two gorgeous and talented women...